The 406th Fighter Group

This is the little-known story of the 406th Fighter Group, a famous but unsung P-47 unit in the European theater of operations (ETO) in WWII.  The 406th was the first unit in the ETO to employ the 5-inch, high-velocity aerial rocket (HVAR) secret weapon. Even if not immediately familiar with the 406th, many readers will have seen a frequently published gun camera photo of a 406th FG P-47 flying into a massive explosion. The Thunderbolt was an incredibly fearsome weapon in the hands of units like the 406th, in one case even causing a German commander to surrender his 20,000 troops to the US Army without a ground battle taking place. The "Raiders" were praised by Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe, commander of the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne, for their aerial defense of his paratroopers when they had run out of ammunition. In 2005, a Thunderbolt in the colors of the 406th was featured by the US Postal Service in the 2005 American Advances in Aviation stamp series, the only P-47 to appear